UCAS forms sent - just the waiting game now !

[snowyowl70]

My super organised DD1 has had email today to say her forms/reference have been received and should be at her chosen Unis in the next 48 hrs !!!!! So the waiting begins - to those seasoned parents who have done this before can you remember how long they had to wait for their first responses ? At least 2 out of her 5 may call her for interview (MFL) so am guessing these might be fairly on the ball ?

Gosh DD would love the free music lessons. That's a fabulous thing.

Wow, well done to all with offers, and incentives/bribes too! These kids aren't daft though, I really think most of them would only accept an incentive if it was their first choice anyway! I think with the amount of debt they are taking on, it all seems like small fry!

DD1 was thrilled she had been given an unconditional offer from Birmingham but as she had ranked them 5th out of her choices she wasn't likely to pick them as her firm. A lot of her friends think she is mad turning it down to firm a 3 As offer but her theory is she wants the 3 As anyway so will be stressed regardless so she might as well stress and get where she wants to go instead of stressing anyway and ending up at her fifth choice . Can see the logic but as a stress head myself would probably personally take the unconditional offer !

I agree with your daughter given it was her choice five.

My daughter is about to send her UCAS into college for the reference (we think they send it off too?) and has four choices. She is refusing to apply to a course which isn't perfect on the basis of what it will cost her. What worries me is the competitiveness of these courses. Apparently, though, she has decided she will take a gap year if she doesn't get any offers.

These are all interview courses so, I suppose, it's going to be stressful to attend four, let alone five.

Kez100 once your child presses the send button then school do their reference and it gets sent off by them - my daughter did ask for it to come back to her to change as one of the Unis had asked for some more information in the courses section ( she had emailed them for clarification as to what to put) .

Kez you can add a 5th choice after the UCAS form has gone off if you want to, right up to the deadline.

@cat

You can add one after the deadline too, but you aren't guaranteed equal consideration after that point.

Thanks Snowy and The cat.

Snowy Glad you got the news you wanted from Southampton. All being well next summer I am sure she will have a great time there.

Kez I know it all seems so important at the moment with everyone else applying but really applying during a gap year with achieved grades may actually mean she gets into a better course at a better uni for her. Not only do unis seem more accepting of candidates with achieved grades but she will have had a time to look around and think a bit more, especially if she visits friends who have already gone, plus perhaps have learned things about herself through work experience. A lot of my DDs peers who went straight off to uni graduated this year and they seem to be coming to the job market like lambs to the slaughter for all their strings of A*s and RG / Oxbridge degrees. I can't help thinking the ones who come out next year because they took a gap year will be a little better prepared for what is to come. And it has all gone so fast! It is certainly why I had encouraged my DD to see this round as testing the water with the idea a gap year would be a good thing, not a fall back. She has the offers though so I now have to think of a plan B to encourage her to take a year out!! May just have to hope that the growing up will happen interailing in the summer

Mindgone I also thought that the unconditional offers and other bribes incentives would have limited effect given such an important decision and a less competitive environment (than pre fees hike, relaxation of quotas etc) but the link I posted downthread highlighted that Birmingham found the unconditional offers increased their firm acceptances from a quarter to a third. I was with a group of DDs' friends after the offers came through and a couple were already sure they were going to take them, good hard working candidates but they want the peace of mind. For my DD Birmingham was going to be the insurance but now we are waiting to attend the offer days to make the final decision. It is all very interesting.

Presumably Birmingham also becomes a more attractive reserve choice. Grade requirements are often very similar. All the Universities DS looked at wanted A*AA. So a decision on which University to hold in reserve may come down to the one most likely to take you should you slightly miss the target.

I assume if Birmingham have places when it comes to clearing, they will look kindly at those to whom they gave unconditional offers in the first place. Unlike others who have built a reputation for keeping strictly to offer grades.

Interesting that now DD1 has all 5 offers she seems to have an email each day from at least one of them extolling the virtues of their course / Uni and basically saying "pick me" !! Having been to Uni 20+ years ago this shift change to quite a commercial approach seems to sit a bit uneasy with me. But with £9000 coming in from each of them I can see they have been driven into the situation .

snowy As someone who has worked in marketing it doesn't just sit uneasily, I think some of it is actually pretty ineffective because they haven't bothered to research the factors that are actually going to sway the decision. So some of it feels too slick, or else too dense, more like a submission to some government quango for recognition. But then I haven't researched it either so what do I know? There was none of this just four years ago though so I suppose they are on a steep learning curve. I am looking forward to seeing how the offers day have changed, at DDs offer day at Bath one slightly dusty academic proudly showed a very a amateur PowerPoint thing he had put together that had some sort of weird avatar jerkily walking through Bath in different seasons. This to a gang of Science geeks! It was very odd and certainly didn't persuade DD that Bath was the place to go so what will we get this year? Full scale musical productions?

So far the presentations at open days that worked best for us were the ones where they had persuaded their best academics to do what they do best, lecture and inspire. I have wanted to sign up myself!

I agree. At my daughters second choice a few of us parents said, on leaving, well if our DDs don't apply here I think I will! So inspiring. On one course which she hasn't applied to the lecturer just kept saying 'ill let the students answer that'.... I can understand why having students there was useful but he didn't answer anything nor even present the PowerPoint and sat in the corner looking a bit bored. It didn't do his course any favours.

UCAS went in tonight. Portfolio about 90% complete. Now we wait and see if she is short listed for any interviews.

DS went for a uni interview, and a few days later got a hand written postcard from the guy who interviewed him, mentioning things that they talked about! We were very surprised! Two more interviews next week.

How lovely to make it so personal !! Good luck to your DS for the other 2 interviews mindgone

That's a lovely touch after the stress of interview!

Thanks Snowy and Kez, love the support on here

I never anticipated the post carrying on for so long but I am really enjoying following everyone's news of their Uni journeys - we will have to all have a thread again with the results to see where they all ended up !

That's a nice touch, mindgone. It can feel odd after interviews I think - as if they never happened.

DD application sent on monday, applied for canterbury, chichester,portsmouth, southampton solent and greenwich, hope we don't have to wait too long

Last two interviews yesterday and today, just the waiting now, then decision time! Good luck all, it's really quite exciting when they start to hear back from them. Ialsy, not expecting postcards from these two (but it would be a lovely surprise!)

UCAS went in at the end of last week with 4 choices and three interview dates arrived today. The final one was always going to be a bit dodgy - it's very competitive with just 1/3 interviewed but its not her first or second choice and so the PS was geared to those - makes the chances of interview very slight indeed but she thought it worth trying as she has the room on the UCAS form.

Wow Kez, 3 interviews in a day is highly exciting! Your DD must be thrilled!

DS got a letter from the uni he interviewed at on Wednesday, but a very standard letter wishing him luck in his forthcoming exams, he did them last year!

Yes, she is so excited to have three interviews. The fourth she still waits to hear from but she knows it's a long shot to get one from them.

She says her portfolio is complete and she has to take that, sketchbooks and whatever work she has in progress on interview date. Apparently, that now means she will be up to her eyes in work over Christmas to make sure her current assignment work is top notch for January!

Good stuff. I like busy teenagers!